Dusty Johnson

Biography

Overview

Dusty Johnson is a Republican U.S. Representative from South Dakota's at-large district, serving since 2019. Before Congress, he was South Dakota's youngest Public Utilities Commissioner (2005–2011) and served as Governor Dennis Daugaard's chief of staff (2011–2014). Johnson is considered a moderate Republican and member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a centrist group that works across party lines.

Career

In Congress, Johnson has advanced legislation focused on agricultural support, tribal affairs, and water infrastructure critical to South Dakota. He was among the few Republicans voting to investigate January 6 and to revoke Trump's emergency border declaration, establishing him as a moderate voice. Earlier in his career, he was the nation's youngest utilities commissioner and managed statewide policy as gubernatorial chief of staff. In June 2025, he announced a run for South Dakota Governor in 2026.

Prior political experience

Johnson won his first House race in 2018, defeating Secretary of State Shantel Krebs and state senator Neal Tapio in the Republican primary before beating Democrat Tim Bjorkman in the general election. In 2020, he won the Republican primary with 77% of the vote and the general election with 81%. He defeated state representative Taffy Howard in the 2022 primary, 59–41%, then won the general election with 77.4% over Libertarian nominee Collin Duprel. In 2024, he ran unopposed in the Republican primary and defeated Democrat Sheryl Johnson 72–28%.

Biographical material adapted from the Wikipedia article (retrieved April 29, 2026), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ideology

Liberal–Conservative (DW-NOMINATE dim 1)

Liberal

Conservative

119th Congress+0.467

Secondary axis (DW-NOMINATE dim 2)(?)

−1

+1

+0.139

Source: Voteview DW-NOMINATE · 342 scored votes

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Officeholding history

Term	Seat	Term dates	Termination	Predecessor	Successor
4th	U.S. House SD-At-Large	2025–present	In progress	Dusty Johnson	—
3rd	U.S. House SD-At-Large	2023–2025	Term ended	Dusty Johnson	Dusty Johnson
2nd	U.S. House SD-At-Large	2021–2023	Term ended	Dusty Johnson	Dusty Johnson
1st	U.S. House SD-At-Large	2019–2021	Term ended	John Thune	Dusty Johnson

Committee assignments

Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development
HouseChair· 2025–present
General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit
House· 2025–present
House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party
House· 2025–present
Aviation
House· 2025–present
Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
House· 2025–present
Highways and Transit
House· 2025–present
House Committee on Agriculture
House· 2025–present
House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
House· 2025–present

Current term legislation

Bills sponsored this term10

Bills cosponsored this term10

Elections

Year	Seat	Result	Vote share	Field
2024	U.S. House SD-At-Large	Pending	72.04%	Dusty Johnson72.04% Sheryl Johnson27.96%